Rack, Shack and Benny (episode)
Rack, Shack & Benny is the fourth episode of VeggieTales. It's a retelling of biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, with elements from Terry Gilliam's films. Plot At the beginning of the episode, Bob stands alone on the countertop, giving the usual line, "Hi, kids, and welcome to VeggieTales! I'm Bob the Tomato…" and anticipates Larry to introduce himself as well. Bob introduces himself again and then looks to the side to find that Larry is absent. He calls out for Larry, who yells offscreen that he will be there in soon, while making some crashing sounds, concerning Bob. When Larry walks on stage, Bob notes that he is wearing an oven mitt that is covering his eyes. Larry tells Bob that according to VeggieBeat Magazine, all the "cool people" are wearing oven mitts as well. Bob protests that the inability to see is dangerous, but Larry insists on his fashion statement. The situation reminds Bob of a letter he recently received from a Dexter Wilmington of Tuscaloosa, AL, who says he is pressured by a friend of his into watching a TV show that he is not allowed to watch. Larry decides to consult QWERTY regarding Dexter's predicament, but as he charges forward, he drops into the sink. Bob decides to show the audience a story about peer pressure while he figures out how to get Larry out. Grandpa George takes over and narrates a story taking place at the Nezzer Chocolate Factory where the employees work hard all day making chocolate bunnies on an assembly line. In celebration of selling their two-millionth chocolate bunny, Mr. Nezzer announces that for 30 minutes all employees may eat all the bunnies they want. While all other workers ravenously devour the chocolate, Shack (Junior Asparagus) convinces his friends Rack (Bob the Tomato) and Benny (Larry the Cucumber) to control themselves, noting that their parents advised them against eating too much candy. Rack brushes it off since their parents are not around and everyone else in the factory is eating to their hearts' content. Shack still constantly thinks of his mother and acts if she is present, and the other two are moved to stop eating chocolate bunnies for the time being. When Mr. Nezzer leaves his office, he finds everybody except for Rack, Shack, and Benny sick and unable to work, and so he promotes the three to Junior Executives. The following day, Mr. Nezzer calls the trio into his office and tells them that he has constructed a 90-foot (27 m) high bunny which he intends to force all employees to bow down to while singing a song he wrote whereby everything else it put at secondary importance to the Bunny, and that anybody who refuses will be cremated alive in the factory's furnace as "bad bunnies." Rack, Shack, and Benny refuse to sing the song and bow down. Mr. Nezzer confronts them to demands that they sing the song, but the trio again refuse and sing a reprise of "Think of Me." Mr. Nezzer pretends to be emotionally moved by the song before announcing he will have the three thrown into the furnace. Meanwhile, Laura Carrot plans their rescue. After the three are pushed down the furnace chute, Laura rushes in and rescues them with her delivery truck and tries to flee. Through a long chase throughout the main factory room, the three are recaptured and suspended above the furnace. Their combined weight causes them to fall while Mr. Nezzer is promising retribution towards Laura. As Mr. Nezzer gloats, the furnace grows dark, and a strong white light suddenly emerges. Mr. Lunt looks inside and notices a fourth person, and moreover that all four are completely unscathed. Shocked, Mr. Nezzer tells them to come out. Mr. Nezzer realizes that the fourth person was the spirit of God saving the three from a fiery death. Mr. Nezzer profusely apologizes and the entire factory takes part in the the musical number, "Stand Up!" Back on the countertop, Bob still has not figured out how to help Larry out of the sink. However, there is a spoon which Bob tells Larry to use as a sort of seesaw, whereby Bob jumps on the round end while Larry stands on the handle. Larry takes over the final scene as he has QWERTY display the Bible verse and tells Dexter that he should still stand by his principles rather than bow to peer pressure. The episode ends with Bob still in the sink. Characters *Bob *Larry *Rack, Shack and Benny (played by Bob, Larry and Junior) *Laura Carrot *Mr. Nezzer *Mr. Lunt *George *The Peas *Lisa Asparagus *Mike Asparagus Songs *VeggieTales Theme Song *Good Morning George *Think Of Me *The Bunny Song *Think Of Me (Reprise) *''Silly Songs with Larry: Dance of the Cucumber *The Bunny Song (Reprise) (also called as "I Tried to Be Patient") *Stand Up! *What Have We Learned (with Larry singing it) Production The episode was based off the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo from the book of Daniel, and was made in Big Idea's new headquarters, a bankrupt screw machine factory. Development was very difficult and ambitious for the company at the time. Ten people worked on the episode with only 4 computers and towards the end, everyone suffered exhaustion. Home media VHS *Word Entertainment/Everland Entertainment (''original release) *Lyrick Studios (August 25, 1998) *HiT Entertainment/WEA (June 18, 2002) DVD *HiT Entertainment/WEA (June 18, 2002) Other Languages * الخضروا مصنع (Arabic) * Herra nekkulan suklaatehdas (Finnish) * Drei Männer im Feuerofen (German) * Ο Ρακ, ο Σακ και ο Μπενι (Greek) * Unknown (Hebrew) * だれに従ったらいいの？(Japanese) * Unknown (Mandarin) (Standard) * 火坑大逃亡 (Mandarin) (Taiwanese) * Rack, Shack og Benny (Norwegian) * Rack, Shack e Benny (Portuguese) (Brazilian) (1st dub) ** Os Três Amigos (Portuguese) (Brazilian) (2nd-3rd dubs) * Rack, Shack e Benny (Portuguese) (European) * Šal, Mašna in Beno (Slovenian) * Drac, Sac y Benny (Latin Spanish) * Rack, Shack và Benny (Vietnamese) Fun Facts Moral *Stand up for what you believe is right. *Don't force others to do something they disagree with or believe is wrong. Cultural references *A nimble scooter is a scooter with a cargo tray on the front. *Kennebunkport is a town in Maine. *Larry's quote before Bob rescued him was based on Dorothy's saying from MGM's "The Wizard of Oz", during which she says those words and clicks her ruby slippers to send her back home. This is, of course, despite virtually all characters in VeggieTales lacking feet. Trivia *This episode was the first for several things: **The first appearance of George, Mr. Lunt, and Mr. Nezzer and also the female Asparagus Singers. **Laura's first speaking role. **This is the first time Mike and Lisa Asparagus appear on the countertop. Here, they are seen in the silly song Dance of the Cucumber. **The first episode where they start using peas (American Peas). **This is the first episode of VeggieTales where both major segments are part of the same narrative. **This is the first episode to have someone else singing the What Have We Learned Song, possibly due to Bob having smashed the regular version in the previous episode. *Bob says that Larry nearly into a toaster while wearing the oven mitt. A toaster character was planned for VeggieTales but never implemented, due to the difficulty in animating him. *This episode was said to be the hardest episode that Big Idea had ever made to that point. *The final shot was going to be a zoom out, but due to dried out funds and the episode's looming deadline, the production team had no choice but to use quick cut scenes. *This is the second time Larry said God Made You Special, and He Loves You Very Much by himself, the first was in God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! and this is the only time he said it and goodbye to the viewer by himself. *In the commentary track for this episode, Phil explains that it was difficult to stick a tie on Bob without it going into his mouth as his mouth is very low on his body. *The original version of the Bunny Song features lyrics about loving the Bunny more than your parents and that church and school were "for sissies." This was always intended to be a villain song, but it was seen as very catchy, and children who saw the episode would sing it in public or with their friends, prompting letters from parents began towards Big Idea. Two new versions of the song were written to correct the problem: one for Very Silly Songs!, and one with substantially different lyrics for future releases. *After the episode was released, fans wrote to Big Idea saying that it was inconsiderate for Larry to just walk away and leave Bob in the sink. Phil Vischer stated on this episode's DVD commentary that Larry left Bob, not intentionally, because he is an absentminded character and sometimes forgets things. *Tim Hodge read the interactive storybook version on Esther... The Girl Who Became Queen. *On the original 1995 release, there's a variant of the Big Idea logo where Bob says offscreen "I'd like to get out now!". But since the 1998 re-release (which included the newer lyrics to "The Bunny Song"), it's replaced with the 1997-2005 Big Idea logo without Bob's line. *This is one of six VeggieTales episodes (the others being Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space!, Josh and the Big Wall!, Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed, Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella, Pistachio - The Little Boy That Woodn't and The League of Incredible Vegetables) to be reprinted in 2015, shortly after the character designs just changed when the Netflix series started in November of 2014. **Though all six reprinted covers use the original looks of the characters, this one has a different cover art and the CGI art looks poorly done and weird. Remarks *There are two different versions of the original 1995 VHS having some of the scenes at the factory being rendered at a different frame rate: One version has some of these factory scenes rendered at a lower framerate (which was strangely carried into the DVD releases of the episode, as acknowledged by both Phil and Mike), and another version has these scenes rendered at a faster frame rate (which was also carried into the 1998 Lyrick Studios re-release). *Despite wearing an oven mitt on his head (not seeing where he's going), Larry is hopping forward to the right direction of the countertop after saying "I think we need Qwerty for this one." However, after the camera cuts to a closeup of Bob and he's looking at that direction, Larry ends up hopping forward to the kitchen sink, which is obviously not the direction he was hopping. If he were to hop toward the kitchen sink, he should've hopped toward the camera and not to the right, with Bob's eyes following that way. Since he went to the right edge of the screen, he could've actually bumped into the wall where it ends and fallen backward. *Larry states that he'll never feel the ocean breeze with his hair, despite the previous Silly Song stating he's never had hair. *The gate is useless as Laura could easily fly over it, though she is polite enough not to. * There's no conceivable way the boxes can close at the bottom without breaking the bunnies. * Considering Nezzer Chocolate typically cranks out around 14,638 bunnies a day, the factory has been open less than 5 months (138 days) by the time it cranks out the two millionth bunny. * Mike states on the commentary that Rack and Benny crying was their first use of crying technology, when in actuality such technology was first used in the second episode. * While thanking Mr. Nezzer for their "lovely gift of chocolate," Rack pronounces "Chocolate" as "Choc-O-Late," though in-episode it could be that Rack feels uncomfortable speaking to a superior. *Several websites incorrectly state this episode was released in 1998. *In The Mystery of Veggie Island computer game, Mr. Nezzer says that it's his first time meeting them. *In the Mandarin Chinese dub of the episode, during the closing countertop, after Larry finishes reading the verse, the screen freezes, then cuts close up to Qwerty (despite the still reused from Where's God When I'm S-Scared?), and then a clip of Larry from the closing countertop of God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! was plastered over the screen, just before returning to the shot with Larry hopping back to the left of the sink. **This edit was done to avoid additional localization with the English text on Qwerty's screen. *In the original Latin Spanish dub, this is one of two episodes (the other being Are You My Neighbor?) where the letter sender is changed.﻿ *Both Arabic dubs and the Taiwanese Mandarin dub (although after the closing countertop) are the only dubs to dub Bob's, "I'd like to get out now!" at the end. **Speaking of which, the Latin Spanish dub has no Big Idea logo after the credits and gives Bob a line after Larry walks away, and the Japanese dub shows the Life Entertainment logo instead of the Big Idea logo. Goofs Phil stated on the audio commentary that the factory was built entirely by Chris Olsen and took weeks to build due to being the biggest set created at the time. As such, this episode has several animation errors. *On the fence scene at the beginning, one shadow appears out of nowhere as the camera pans toward George slowly. *The ceiling of the factory flickers as Mr. Lunt enters it through use of the platform after lecturing Laura for being late. On a similar note, a shadow behind him disappears as he sinks into the bottom. *Some of the bunnies' ears flicker as the hands stick them on the bunnies. *The machine 'painting' the bunnies' eyes on flickers as Rack, Shack and Benny are singing behind the belt during the side shot. **Bob's mouth clips through that machine as well. *Rack, Shack and Benny hover slightly above the ground in the shots showing them working behind the conveyor belt. *When Laura takes off with the bunnies, the bunnies on the conveyor belt disappear instead of fall. *In the scene where Laura is flying her truck through the factory at the end of Good Morning George, she and her truck clip through one of the pipes. *In the scene where the television screen shows up, the bunnies disappear on every last frame on the conveyor belt. *As Mr. Nezzer opens the door following the 30-minute celebration of selling the 2,000,000th bunny, the workers are nowhere to be seen, but are in the next few shots. *While Mr. Nezzer and Mr. Lunt are talking with the trio about them being Junior Executives, a pole spawns out of nowhere between shots, clipping through Shack. *As the trio are standing in front of the closed doors of Mr. Nezzer's office upon entering, only Shack's shadow moves. *Mr. Nezzer's suit clips into his body towards the end of the Bunny Song. *While not a goof, before the bunny statue is revealed, Shack's mouth is just above his tie, although it's easy to see why it looks like his mouth is missing. *When Mr. Nezzer moves the front podium toward Rack, Shack and Benny (just before he says "I said, it's time to sing, the Bunny Song."), one of the worker peas on the bottom left of the screen is upright and facing toward the camera. *Before the fade to black, all the employees (including Laura) are missing bunny emblems on their hats. *When Mr. Nezzer says, "Now I didn't ask for much, just one simple little thing," he clips through a pipe. On a similar note, something flickers twice in the same shot. *While Mr. Lunt is sending the trio into the furnace, you'll notice that there's a gap above his head. Phil Vischer stated this was a rendering mistake and that there was supposed to be a catwalk there. *The furnace opens up with a dual door, then a single door, and then becomes an open hall with no door. *In the closing countertop, Larry loses the oven mitt he wore on his head earlier in the beginning of the episode (he could have removed it while in the sink). *In the first version of the original 1995 VHS release, during the end credits, the amplification of the saxophone instrument in the reprise for Stand Up! are lower in volume if the VCR playing the tape is set to mono. This was corrected in later re-issues of the episode. Fast Forward *Larry would later wear oven mitts in VeggieTown, though he can see since the mitts have shrunk. *Mentions of VeggieBeat and falling into the sink would be spoken of in a later episode. Quotes *Mr. Lunt: Actually, boss, I think that tomato is sitting. *Rack : I'm standing! *Mr. Lunt : Sitting. *Rack: Look, this is sitting and this is standing. I'm standing. *Mr. Lunt : Okay, he's standing. *Laura: Which way do I go? *Rack: Go up, go up! (Laura droves downward) Or down. *Laura: Sorry, sir. Can't let you cook my buddies. *Mr. Nezzer: Guards, get them! (guard bunny cycles engines starting) *Laura: Hang on guys. *Mr. Nezzer: Well, what do you think? *Rack: Um, what would happen? Say, if someone didn't quite agree with everything in that song, so they didn't, um.. didn't sing it. What would happen? *Mr. Nezzer: What's that over there? *Shack: That's a furnace. *Mr. Nezzer: What's it for? *Benny: Well, that's where the bad bunnies go. *Mr. Nezzer: Let's just say in my mind. If you don't bow down and sing the song, you're a bad bunny. *Rack : You don't mean. *Mr. Nezzer: But I'm sure that won't happen. It's almost time for the ceremony, I'll see you out there. *Mr. Nezzer: What are your names, boys? *Rack: I'm Shadrach. *Shack: I'm Meschach. *Benny: I'm a bumblebee, Abendyboo, I'm Benny. *Laura : (singing) Good morning, George, how are you? I hope you're feeling fine. I'd love to stay and talk but it's almost eight o'clock, and I haven't got the time. *George: See you later. *Laura: (singing) Because we work real hard at the chocolate factory. We start at eight and we don't get lunch till 3. I've got to drive a truck to make a buck. So I can send it home to my family! 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